Thursday

Mar 21, 2019 at 5:41 PM

There are, no doubt, uncountable ways to play the guitar. Colorado-based Trace Bundy, who will be plying his trade at The Center for Arts in Natick on March 28, has found a unique approach, mixing together a bit of fakery (he has false fingernails), some re-imagined tools of the trade (he uses some unusual capos on his guitar neck), and some good old-fashioned skill as an acoustic instrumentalist.

Bundy, 42, has been at this for three decades, first getting his hands on a guitar when he and his older brother happened upon a “no-name” model at a yard sale when he was about 11.

“We were walking by and my brother spotted it on a table,” he said. “It was marked $10, and we each had $5 in our pocket, so we said let’s do this. That same day we bought one of those heavy metal guitar magazines that said, ‘Learn how to play five heavy metal songs!’ And that’s what my brother was into, so the first song I ever played was ‘One’ by Metallica, and it was on that acoustic guitar.”

Bundy admitted that though that was his brother’s choice of music, and he eventually graduated to playing electric guitar, using a pick and shredding, his own preference at the time was glam rock. But he never went the route of glam rocker guitarists like Mick Ronson or Mick Ralphs. Instead, he found himself entranced by the acoustic sounds on his parents’ album collection: Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens.

“I went more into playing songs on the acoustic guitar, and I got pretty good at it,” he said. “From there I started trying different techniques and it spiraled from there with me trying to push the boundaries of what I could do on it.”

That included switching from playing with a pick to fingerpicking.

“I’d hear a song and I’d realize I couldn’t do that with a pick, because with these more complicated patterns, you’d need all of your fingers to make that sound.” he explained. “I loved it! The whole premise of fingerstyle guitar, or what it progressed into, is trying to use all your fingers and maybe your elbow or your forearm or the palm of your hand; you try to create all these different layers and melody and chord progressions, all at the same time. It just felt more natural to me.”

Bundy also managed to figure out a way to achieve a percussive sound to his picking style, courtesy of adding a little something to the ends of his fingers.

“I use fake acrylic nails on my right hand,” he said. “They’re really thick, really strong. It’s like having five picks attached to my fingers. And I kind of use my first finger as a guitar pick.”

All of that happens in the middle of his guitar. Up on the neck, there’s a whole different show going on. Bundy uses capos – devices that, when clamped across the neck, change the tuning. Most guitarists employ one at a time; Bundy goes for multiple capos, thereby creating an ever-changing sound from song to song.

“Each one is different,” he said. “Only one of them is a normal capo that will clamp down all six strings. The others have holes on them, and some of them are bent. The purpose is to only clamp down certain strings. For example, if you cut a hole in the capo, it might only clamp down the middle three strings of the guitar. It’s similar to changing the tuning. You can put more than one capo on. You can put one behind another. It’s a way of stretching the boundaries a little bit.”

With five albums of originals and cover songs – one of his best medleys includes segues between “La Bamba,” “Pretty Woman” and “Here Comes the Sun” – in print, Bundy has plenty of material to choose from for his TCAN show. And he intends to dip into “some of the older classics, the songs that fans want to hear, and fortunately I still enjoy playing them. I’ll also be doing some of my newer songs and some other covers I’ve learned.”

Asked what some of those covers might be, he said, “I’ve been on a Beatles kick. I’ve been playing their records quite a bit, and when they’re playing, I grab my guitar and start working out stuff. I’ve been working on some arrangements of things from the White Album and ‘Abbey Road,’ so I’ll probably be playing some songs from those.”

Trace Bundy performs at The Center for Arts in Natick on March 28 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $27. Info: 508-647-0097.

Guitarists and vocalists Coco Montoya and Tinsley Ellis team up for a night of blues and rock at The Center for Arts in Natick. (8 p.m.)

Great American Songbook vocalist Ann Hampton Calloway presents “Jazz Goes to the Movies” at Scullers in Boston. (8 p.m.)

Very modern pianist Carla Bley will be accompanied by Steve Swallow on bass, and Andy Sheppard on soprano sax over two nights at the Regattabar in Cambridge. (Also March 30, 7:30 and 10 p.m. both dates)